Chapter Four
The doorbell rings on a late Saturday afternoon just a few weeks after the day at the beach with the boys. I open the door to see Leah standing at the door and she is breathing heavily. I raise a brow when she pushes past me and goes over to Matthew. The two have become a little too close for my taste ever since Sam came back and started to fawn over Emily. Sam has been keeping an eye on Matthew and I little more since he got back and I am not liking the way he is looking at us. He knows something that is going to rock my family and my life really hard. I give a small shrug when I watch Matthew and Leah go into his room. Embry comes out of my room and wanders over to the fridge.
"Are you ever going to go home without me having to drag you home or having to be there longer than an hour?" I ask with a smile. He winks at me and then starts to pull out the leftovers I was planning on reheating for dinner for the boys while I go out for a bit.
"Yes, but I want you there to shield me from my mother and her never ending questions," Embry says. I go to save my food from his bottomless stomach and push him away from the fridge with my hip. "Why are you being so stubborn in putting a few things in my room for little sleepovers?"
"Because we are only sixteen and we are not ready for that kind of stuff. Embry, you have to give it some time before we start moving our things to each other's places, our parents' places I might add," I say as I roll my eyes and put the leftovers onto the counter to be heated up. "Dad, come and pick what you want on your plate!"
"Marinna, please just think about it. I can clean out a drawer for you and make space in the bathroom for you," Embry begs.
"No, now stop talking about it before my dad kicks you out," I growl softly when I hear Billy's chair coming down the hallway. "Dad, do you want the steak of the meatloaf?"
"Steak, but leave a piece for Jake. he loves when you make your mom's special steak," Billy says with a big smile. I giggle and start making two plates for them. "Was that Leah in Mattie's room?"
"Yep, she must not have found out something good about Sam," Embry says. Billy looks at Embry's presence in the house still and in the kitchen with me.
"Dad, I will take him home when I leave," I say. Billy nods his head as he goes back to the living room. "Mattie, Jake! Come and heat up your dinner before I leave!"
"Why won't you just say yes?" Embry asks softly. I turn a little to him and hold up my knife with the point facing him. Embry stops smiling and holds up his hands in surrender.
"The next sentence that comes out of your mouth about me moving a few of my things to your mum's place is going to earn you a ticket to the hospital," I growl a little louder than before. Jacob, Matthew, and Leah walk in to see us like this. The three of them stop and stare at me pointing a knife at Embry.
"Lover's quarrel?" Leah asks. I turn back to getting Billy's plate made and heated.
"Wow," Matthew and Jacob whisper together. I throw the knife into the sink and stomp outside the house to sit in the lawn for a moment. I sit on the lawn and hug my knees to my chest to lay my forehead on my knees and to listen to the silence of the yard. A soft growl comes from the woods not too far from the house and I look up to see a big black wolf looking at me calmly with gentle brown eyes. I tilt my head to the side as I get up and walk over to the large wolf slowly. My mind becomes a little fuzzy as I start to hear Sam's voice from somewhere. The wolf edges back when I step into the treeline and get closer to the wolf.
"You are a beautiful wolf," I whisper, with my hand sticking out to the wolf. The wolf nudges my hand with its muzzle before moving closer to nudge me with its body. "You seem familiar to me as well. It is a little relaxing with knowing that you won't harm me. For some odd reason, I know you won't harm me even though I just met you."
"Marinna?!" Billy calls from the house. I turn to see that Billy is outside with Jacob and Matthew, looking for me now. My heart hurts a little, but I do not want to go back right now. I look back at the wolf and see the curiosity in its eyes.
"My family are looking for me, but I am not wanting to go home right now. Would you like to join me for a walk?" I say to the wolf. As if it can understand me, the wolf nods and then starts to walk on a path. I smile and walk near the wolf with my fingers on its back. "I should give you a name so I can feel a little more comfortable being around you. How about I name you after my cousin, Samuel, but you can be Sam for short?"
'Marinna, I know you can hear me,' a voice says in my head that sounds just like Sam. I stop and look around quickly for Sam. 'I am here, but not in my usual form.'
"Sam? This is not a funny game," I say. The wolf nudges me and I look at it.
'Marinna, I am the wolf and I am here to watch over you while you get ready to chose your path,' Sam's voice says. I shake my head and shuffle backwards before taking off in a full sprint far from the wolf. I hear the wolf howl and try to run faster. The wind picks up around me and I try to drown out the shouts from the wolf that is somehow speaking to me. I reach the edge of Harry and Sue's yard and run quickly to their house. After knocking as quickly and loudly as I can, I try to catch my breathe. Seth opens the door with a worried look and his parents not far behind him.
"Wolf...it talked to me...Help," I manage to say before passing out on their front porch. My vision begins to black out, but I see the wolf in the woods before the darkness overcomes me. I hear the sound of my mother's voice and the story she used to tell at bedtime about our people and the reservation stories. There is no way that any of it is true though...